A Method to Determine the Electric Field of Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers Using a UV Laser System and its Application in MicroBooNE

Abstract

Liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs) are now a standard detector technology for making accelerator neutrino measurements, due to their high material density, precise tracking, and calorimetric capabilities. An electric field (E-field) is required in such detectors to drift ionized electrons to the anode to be collected. The E-field of a TPC is often approximated to be uniform between the anode and the cathode planes. However, significant distortions can appear from effects such as mechanical deformations, electrode failures, or the accumulation of space charge generated by cosmic rays. The latter is particularly relevant for detectors placed near the Earth's surface and with large drift distances and long drift time. To determine the E-field in situ, an ultraviolet (UV) laser system is installed in the MicroBooNE experiment at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The purpose of this system is to provide precise measurements of the E-field, and to make it possible to correct for 3D spatial distortions due to E-field non-uniformities. Here we describe the methodology developed for deriving spatial distortions, the drift velocity and the E-field from UV-laser measurements.

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Cited by in corpus (25)

• First results on ProtoDUNE-SP liquid argon time projection chamber performance from a beam test at the CERN Neutrino Platform
• Measurement of Differential Cross Sections for ${\nu }_{\mu }$-Ar Charged-Current Interactions with Protons and no Pions in the Final State with the MicroBooNE Detector
• Measurement of Space Charge Effects in the MicroBooNE LArTPC Using Cosmic Muons
• First constraints on light sterile neutrino oscillations from combined appearance and disappearance searches with the MicroBooNE detector
• Novel Approach for Evaluating Detector-Related Uncertainties in a LArTPC Using MicroBooNE Data
• First Measurement of Energy-Dependent Inclusive Muon Neutrino Charged-Current Cross Sections on Argon with the MicroBooNE Detector
• Search for Neutrino-Induced Neutral Current $\Delta$ Radiative Decay in MicroBooNE and a First Test of the MiniBooNE Low Energy Excess Under a Single-Photon Hypothesis
• A Convolutional Neural Network for Multiple Particle Identification in the MicroBooNE Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber
• Cosmic Ray Background Rejection with Wire-Cell LArTPC Event Reconstruction in the MicroBooNE Detector
• High-performance Generic Neutrino Detection in a LArTPC near the Earth's Surface with the MicroBooNE Detector
• Wire-Cell 3D Pattern Recognition Techniques for Neutrino Event Reconstruction in Large LArTPCs: Algorithm Description and Quantitative Evaluation with MicroBooNE Simulation
• Vertex-Finding and Reconstruction of Contained Two-track Neutrino Events in the MicroBooNE Detector
• The science and technology of liquid argon detectors
• Measurement of ambient radon progeny decay rates and energy spectra in liquid argon using the MicroBooNE detector
• Long-baseline neutrino oscillation physics potential of the DUNE experiment
• Search for Light Sterile Neutrinos With Two Neutrino Beams at MicroBooNE
• Measurement of the Atmospheric Muon Rate with the MicroBooNE Liquid Argon TPC
• Space charge in liquid argon time-projection chambers: a review of analytical and numerical models, and mitigation methods
• Observation of Radon Mitigation in MicroBooNE by a Liquid Argon Filtration System
• Space Charge Effects in Noble Liquid Calorimeters and Time Projection Chambers
• First measurement of $\eta$ production in neutrino interactions on argon with MicroBooNE
• Measurement of charged-current muon neutrino-argon interactions without pions in the final state using the MicroBooNE detector
• Measurement of the Longitudinal Diffusion of Ionization Electrons in the MicroBooNE Detector
• Measurement of the differential cross section for neutral pion production in charged-current muon neutrino interactions on argon with the MicroBooNE detector
• Calibration of calorimetric measurement in a liquid argon time projection chamber